The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of Colocasia commonly known as the taro plant or elephant ears. Colocasia is grown as a food crop or for use as an ornamental plant for planting in containers or in the landscape. The new variety is known botanically as Colocasia esculenta and will be referred to hereinafter by the variety name ‘Aloha’.
Colocasia is a tuberous rooted perennial which is native to tropical Asia and Polynesia. It grows to 1.5 m to 2 m in height from starchy tubers. The leaves of Colocasia are heart-shaped and very large in size. The tuberous roots are cooked and eaten as a starchy staple in many tropical areas. Colocasia are also grown as an ornamental plant for the landscape in warmer climates or as a container plant in colder areas.
The new Colocasia variety named ‘Aloha’ is the product of a long-term breeding program carried out by the inventor in a cultivated area in Kula, Hi. The purpose of the breeding program is to develop new commercial varieties by combining attributes of plant vigor with novel leaf coloration and color combinations, and leaf texture.
‘Aloha’ arose and was selected by the inventor as a seedling selection from the controlled pollination between the female parent variety Colocasia ‘Maui Gold’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 24,482) and male parent variety Colocasia ‘Coal Miner’ (unpatented).
‘Aloha’ was selected for its large glossy leaves which emerge dark olive-green in color, and whose upper surfaces rapidly become almost entirely purple-black in color, and whose lower surfaces become dark purple-black between the veins and away from the margins. The inventor also observed that ‘Aloha’ produces numerous closely-attached clumping shoots and petioles such that the whole plant is exceptionally dense in its overall appearance.
The most commonly employed means of asexual propagation of the genus Colocasia is the excision and replanting of a shoot which consists of the apical 1 cm to 2 cm portion of the plant corm with the attached basal 15 cm to 20 cm portion of the petiole. In regions of the world where Colocasia is grown, this plant shoot is known as a “huli”, and the means of propagation is known as “huli propagation”. The first asexual propagation of ‘Aloha’ was carried out by the inventor in Kula, Hi. in 2010 using this method of “huli propagation”. Subsequent asexual reproductions by huli propagation and by tissue culture have confirmed to the inventor ‘Aloha’ is stable, uniform, and reproduces true to type in successive generations of asexual propagation.